We must radically overhaul police recruitment to prevent the next Wayne Couzens from slipping through the net

Editorial: New hiring processes should include in-person interviews, home visits for everyone applying to be a police officer, a robust assessment of their psychological suitability – and more. The police need to get recruitment right first time, and not take risks to hit recruitment targets

An astonishing series of blunders made by a series of police forces allowed the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by Couzens, a serving officer (Crown Prosecution Service/AP)

Meticulous, thorough and measured as Elish Angiolini’s report into the murderer Wayne Couzens undoubtedly is, it begs yet more questions about the quite astonishing series of blunders made by a series of police forces – mistakes and negligence that led to the rape and murder of Sarah Everard.

For all the investigations, inquiries and intense public debates about the conduct and morals of the police in recent decades, it seems that something as basic as ensuring that a known sex offender is not given a police uniform, warrant card and a gun eluded three separate police forces.

Her report represents a tragic and distressing account of successive missed opportunities, “red lights” that should have taken Couzens out of circulation. Those mistakes – and other high-profile, shameful scandals – have left public confidence in the police shredded. It is intolerable and unspeakably dangerous for women in London – and elsewhere – to feel too nervous to approach a male police officer. Lady Elish’s initial report (two more will follow) goes some way to documenting what went wrong and how to fix things.